Shootouts between the Indonesian Military (TNI) and rebel groups continue despite mounting calls for security forces to apply a different approach to curb conflict in the region.

Officials had warned the threat from the Mount Ruang stratovolcano was far from over after it sparked the evacuation of thousands when it stirred a spectacular mix of lava, ash columns and lightning last week.

With just under four months to go until the country celebrates its 79th anniversary, the government is finalizing its plans and preparations to relocate almost 12,000 civil servants to the new capital still under development in East Kalimantan.

The national volcanic center and disaster agency have called for increased vigilance among people living near active volcanoes, especially those designated either orange or yellow alert, as security forces assist in evacuations and delivering aid to people affected by Mount Ruang, which has been on red alert since April 17.

The flower, which usually blooms in four-year intervals, last bloomed in 2020.

The Densus 88 antiterror police unit detained on Tuesday seven JI-linked suspects in Central Sulawesi, following the January arrests of at least a dozen terror suspects in Central and East Java.

The Indonesian volcanic hazard authority has raised the alert status of Mount Ruang in North Sulawesi to the red level, with potential hot rocks, hot clouds and tsunamis putting residents living around the volcano in danger. 

Wednesday's dramatic eruption of the volcano on a remote island in North Sulawesi threw a fiery-red column of lava, incandescent rock and ash as much as three km (two miles) into the sky.

Mount Ruang, a stratovolcano in the province, first erupted at 9:45 pm on Tuesday (1345 GMT) and twice again in the early hours of Wednesday, the country's volcanology and geological agencies said.

Key parts of Java’s toll road system have been heavily congested over the past few days as authorities seek to manage the peak of return Idul Fitri mudik (exodus) travel.

The death toll in a recent series of landslides in Tana Toraja, South Sulawesi, has increased to 18, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said on Monday, as bad weather and infrastructure damage complicate the search for at least two people still missing.

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has called on the government to adopt a better approach in its handling of rising tensions in Papua, where a string of skirmishes between security forces and separatists has killed at least eight people.

The Army’s Cendrawasih Military Command in Central Papua said that a soldier died in Aradide district after allegedly being attacked by a group of Free Papua Movement (OPM) rebels.

The local government in South Sulawesi also reported that two people were in a critical condition in hospital. 

The dead and two survivors were evacuated from two landslide-hit villages in Tana Toraja regency, South Sulawesi province on Saturday evening, said local disaster agency head Sulaiman Malia.

Holidaymakers have begun to return home after a weeklong Idul Fitri holiday with their families and relatives in their hometowns.

A spokesperson for the TNI said the rebel group is "always reporting hoax news", after they claimed the military had been dropping bombs onto civilian areas.

A group of refugees are spending the end of Ramadan celebrations away from their families after surviving a dangerous sea journey from squalid Bangladesh camps for an uncertain future in the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation.

Intan Jaya Police have confirmed that one child was killed and another injured during a shootout on Monday between members of an armed criminal group (KKB) and the Cartenz Peace Operation personnel in Central Papua province.

Despite their eye-watering prices, private burial grounds provide a solution for the increasing scarcity of plots in Greater Jakarta’s network of densely packed public cemeteries.

Authorities are attempting to untangle the kilometers-long snarl of vehicles that has formed on the road to the key seaport in Banten as millions of people try to reach their hometowns on Sumatra to celebrate Idul Fitri with the families.

At least 12 people died on Monday after a minibus traveling along a counterflow lane crashed into a bus on a busy toll road in West Java, forcing the National Police to evaluate the overall implementation of counterflow lanes during the Idul Fitri mudik (exodus).

The national meteorology agency said it was currently tracking tropical cyclone seed 96S and advised 'mudik' travelers to keep their eye on the weather, as it could gain in strength over the next few days.

I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali experienced a notable increase in passengers in the days leading up to Idul Fitri, with a peak of 74,000 passengers expected on Sunday.

Three Navy personnel allegedly attacked journalist Sukandi Ali after reporting on a fuel barge seizure in North Maluku in March, and threatened his life, forcing Sukandi to stop reporting.

The nearly 200 million Indonesians expected to make the journey home for the Idul Fitri holiday face a heightened risk of extreme weather in their travels, authorities warned on Sunday, as the nation’s busy land and sea transportation routes accommodate what is expected to be a record-breaking mudik (exodus) season.

Environmentalists are calling for more stringent environmental standards to be fulfilled by mining companies to obtain concessions on small islands following a recent ruling by the Constitutional Court.